Thu, 9:19: Holy shit, what a mess. All I can say is, no matter what the truth is here, it changes nothing about the seriousnes and prevalence of racist and homophobic hate crimes in this country. That really cannot be stressed enough. https://t.co/1XbQmEJnCK

Thu, 17:12: I once had this exchange with who was then my brother-in-law:‬

‪Him: Nothing is impossible.‬
‪Me: Some things are impossible. It’s impossible to breathe in outer space without a space suit. ‬
‪Him: One day you’ll chew a piece of gum, Matthew. ‬
Me: Huh?‬
‪Him: One day you’ll chew a piece of gum. ‬

‪28 years later I still don’t know what the hell he was talking about. ‬

I was up much later than usual last night, because I waited up for Ivan to arrive for his February 2019 visit. There were really two reasons for this, both of them fairly selfish: if he was actually arriving last night, I did not want to have to wait until this evening to actually see him; and spending some time chatting with him last night, that'll give him four Social Review points the next time I post that -- for Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday. (Maybe even five, if I happen to see him before he leaves on Sunday, but that's somewhat doubtful.)

I think I may have turned a particular corner with Ivan, I only realized this morning. I didn't spent any time at all last night thinking about how hot he is -- something I spent a truly inordinate amount of time thinking about in the past. I didn't look at his butt even once! Now, his approach to friendship with me was always entirely platonic from day one, I want to be clear -- and that was always how it should be. My approach to it was a little more complicated, as I was always distracted by his beauty. He turned out to be a good, lasting and enduring friend, though, which I really appreciate, and if my end could evolve into being exclusively platonic as well, that would be ideal. (Another distinction to make: I never had any truly romantic feelings for him, which is different. Just a big, dumb crush the first year I knew him, and otherwise an omnipresent perception of his hotness. As of this April we will have known each other five years.)

As an aside, and to be kind of fair about this idea of "turning a corner" -- I had just spet the evening at Steamworks, so I was kind of spent on that front for the day anyway. The details of that, I won't subject you to.

Anyway, he had taken Amtrak down from Bellingham, and the train arrived at King Street Station eight minutes delayed, at 10:18, and I learned later he actually took Light Rail to our place from there. I had assumed he would take an Uber or Lyft, but, apparently not. So he got to our building at about 10:45. He tried buzzing but for some reason Shobhit's phone did not ring, so Ivan messaged me that he was outside, and I went downstairs to let him in. He immediately gave me a requisite hug, though it was kind of awkward as I was opening the door at the same time.

Once in the condo, Ivan seemed eager to get updates from me, to an unusual degree. He even asked how my mother was doing, and I realized something that is maybe a poor reflection of my character: I don't believe I have spoken to her since Christmas Day. Perhaps I should call her soon. I do go months at a time without talking to her, so that's not that out of the ordinary, but -- well, this is two months now.

We visited and caught up for probably about 45 minutes, many of which were characterized by Shobhit's frustrating insistence on making claims for which he has zero evidence, about what he believes to be Ivan's non-sensible choice to pursue hypnotherapy as a career. I don't necessarily think that will pan out for Ivan either, but I have separate reasons for which I have actual evidence: Ivan's own history suggests he will pursue this for now, discover it's not really for him soon after he attempts to make an actual living at it (he's currently getting a degree in it at Western University), and then abandon it for his next big idea. That has no bearing on whether someone can make a living at it, however, which is what Shobhit is convinced of, without knowing even the first thing about the industry.

I got so frustrated with him talking out his ass that I decided that was finally a good time to go to bed. Ivan had been sitting on the floor next to where Shanti was laying on the couch right next to me, as we both were petting her. Shanti growled a few times for reasons that remain a mystery. Hopefully she's okay; she was kind of limping on one paw for a few days there, although that appears to have gone away. It's a good thing they have their annual checkup coming up in April.

-- चार हजार चार सौ चौरासी --

-- चार हजार चार सौ चौरासी --

In completely unrelated news, it hit me a couple of weeks ago that not only is Dad and Sherri's anniversary next month ("March 8th or 9th," as they always like to say), but it's their 35th! So I texted Gina about it and suggested we do something special, even if it's something as simple as going to dinner. Gina and Beth brought it up to them and they were pretty insistent it not be some big thing -- save that for their 40th, they said. Well, I still say 35 is impressive!

Gina mentioned "their favorites" (a joking reference to my cousin Jennifer and her husband Eric, who they hang out with a lot) and getting them involved. I exchanged a few messages with Jennifer as well, and will likely stay the night at their house on Saturday, March 9 -- I don't want to stay at Dad and Sherri's for this as I don't think they should have to do any work as a result of it at all.

I exchanged a few more texts with Gina this morning and we seem to have settled on Dirty Dave's, the pizza place in Olympia that they celebrate lots of birthdays at already, and with which the family has a long history. It's also pretty informal, so it's all kinds of appropriate for this. Gina has tasked me with creating the Facebook invite, which is fine by me.

I'm actually getting kind of excited about it. It's too bad Shobhit can't make it as he'll be in India. But, it's one of many things I already have planned to keep me busy in Shobhit's 3.5-week absence.